


a selfish prayer for light

by VolunteerFieryDantooinian



Category: Hooten & the Lady (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hooten Makes Bad Decisions, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly pre-ship, Ouija Boards, Possession, ghost hunters au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2018-12-30 08:11:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12104451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolunteerFieryDantooinian/pseuds/VolunteerFieryDantooinian
Summary: All it took was one island and one night.





	a selfish prayer for light

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Darkness" by Lord Byron.

"You're up-to-date on your tetanus shots, right?" 

Alex steered her beat-up old truck off of the bridge and onto the brown and yellow grass, like an old bruise that hadn't quite faded. Hooten laughed. 

"What, do you think I'll step on a rusty nail or something? I mean, yes, I am, but jeez," He said, rolling his eyes. "Cementing your status as the mom friend." Alex chuckled.

"You know, if you do that too much, they say it'll stick." She teased, and he snorted. Parking the car, she jumped onto the ground and dashed to the back, grabbing their large briefcase of gear. Well.. Gear was a relative term. It was really just a video camera, an Ouija board, 2 different first-aid kits, a battered old EMF detector, and a portable Geiger counter for emergencies and odd situations.

Hooten had insisted on bringing the Ouija board this time, based on the fact that there was an old, abandoned house somewhere on the island. Both of them knew that they really didn't work, but that was ok. It was more for fun than anything else. The night was balmy and thick with the smell of rain, the ground still wet from the downpour earlier. Alex shouldered her bag and locked the car, gesturing for Hooten to hurry. 

With Hooten rambling about some sort of electromagnetic anomaly on the island that could interfere with their equipment, and her pretending to listen, they made it to the house in pretty good time. Her heavy, dull hiking boots squished in the mud, making an oddly unpleasant noise as they trekked up to the top of the hill.

The house itself, really, wasn't much of a house. It was more of a lighthouse. A dilapidated old thing once painted tan and gray, now faded to a dull whitish-beige. In this darkness, though, it looked black and looming, like the tower of Sauron in the Mordor that was South Carolina. The trees were thinly patched around the wide, muddied footpath, many sickly-looking and losing their leaves already.

All in all, this was one of the worst places she'd visited with Hooten so far. Less developed, rural countries? That she could handle. South Carolina, however, was perfectly nice in the city, but outside of that, there was nothing but dead grass and the occasional swamp as far as the eye could see. Apparently, there was a lizard man somewhere, but she kind of doubted that. America, in general, was pretty fucked up, and not her favorite place to go, but it was certainly a hotbed for paranormal sightings.

They approached the looming lighthouse, and she made her way up the rotting wooden steps to the door. Carefully, she pushed it open with a sinister-sounding creak. 

"Well that's welcoming, isn't it?" Hooten deadpanned, and she smacked his arm. Carefully, they made their way into the old, dilapidated home. It had been partially damaged in a hurricane, which had killed many people on the island and drove away its living inhabitants. It was dark and musty, parts of the floor having rotted away with pools of water underneath. Some places were fortified by concrete, so Alex found a relatively dry, safe spot to set their gear down on. The windows were shattered, the frames having rotted away, glass spread all around the empty openings. 

She grabbed their EMF and switched it on, calibrating it quickly and starting to circle the space, heading into the bedrooms and going up one or two of the crumbling steps. Hooten watched her quietly. "Hey, ghost motherfuckers, if you're here, give us a shout. Maybe move something?" He exclaimed.

"Rule number two of ghost hunting, Hooten! Never mock the ghosts," Alex responded frustratedly. The EMF readings seemed to be pretty normal, so she guessed that they had to break out the old favorite: the Ouija board. She unpacked the dusty old thing and set it on the floor, putting the planchette in the neutral position as Hooten sat down next to her on the rotting floorboards. 

"What's rule number one?" He inquired.

"Never, EVER go alone." She said seriously. Not just because of ghosts, she thought. Many people had died on ghost hunts because they were in unsafe areas, where they fell through floorboards and were trapped, or had gotten shot by someone who thought they were getting robbed. It was certainly a dangerous business, and this was certainly a stupid idea. Hooten lightly held his hands on the planchette while Alex held the EMF detector. 

"Hey, ghosts, what's happening? How's being dead?" He asked conversationally. "Could you make this thing spell somethin' if you're here?" Nothing. Not that she was surprised, but then again, stranger things had happened. 

"Did you really think that was going to work, Hooten?" She asked, and he shrugged. 

"Hey, ghosts, my friend here is a hardass skeptic. If you wanna do something, do it. Make some weird noises, move this thing around. Don't be obnoxious, guys. Gals. Former humans." He frowned. "Hey, Alex, you think there's a trans ghost somewhere? Do ghosts even remember or know what gender is?" 

"I.. Hate to say that that's a good question, but honestly? That's an interesting question. I'd say possibly, yes. Whether the ghost knows it or not, there might be." She shrugged, and he laughed. 

"Good to know." He continued trying to chat with the ghosts, to no avail. Literally nothing was happening, and Alex was just listening to the very real crickets chirp when Hooten broke the silence. "What the fuck?" He said quietly.

"What?" She asked, and he nodded at the board. Slowly, the planchette moved from letter to letter. "Hooten, I swear, if you're messing with me, I'm burning this thing." Alex joked, and she noticed he'd grown pale. 

"Alex, I'm not- look what it just said." She followed the planchette and remembered the earlier letters. U-L-Y-S-S-E-S. His first name. "Yeah, ghosts, that's my name. Do you wanna do something?" He asked, and slowly, the planchette moved to YES. "Well, okaaay. I say go for it, ghosts! Give me all you've got. Slam me against the wall or something, I'm not gonna stop you." Hooten egged on.

"Hooten, don't be silly, they c-" Alex was cut off by Hooten taking in a sharp breath, face going white. Sweat started to bead on his forehead and he looked certainly shocked. His hands were shaking. "Are you alright?" 

"Okay, you're taking my energy. I can feel that. Now do something with it!" He exclaimed, and as soon as he said it, his eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped to the floor, convulsing slightly. Soon, though, before she could ask what was happening, he went stiff and sat up.

His eyes were perfect, unblemished black, like an abyssal night sky. The look on his face, though, wasn't one of anger or powerful wrath. It was just one of surprise, one of.. Peace?

"Give him back!" Alex yelled, and the possessed Hooten winced. 

"Please don't do that." His voice wasn't his own. It was more like his voice multiplied by ten, by a hundred, even, people speaking in unison. Deeper, too. "It.. Hurts. He hurts." The ghost cringed. Alex decided to take a more diplomatic approach.

"What happened to you? Who are you?" Alex asked quietly. "I honestly didn't know ghosts could do this."

"I... Hmm," The ghost pondered, handling Hooten's body in a clearly different way than he ever did. "Who am I. I... Died. I was 30. About to get married. My best friends and I got drunk during the bachelorette party and I ended up falling over the railing of the lighthouse, into the sea." They said quietly. "This is a painful body to be in. He has... Lost." 

Alex frowned slightly. "Then why don't you leave? I know he's hurting. You are too, I bet. Why don't you move on?" The ghost doesn't answer for a while.

"I can't move." They say quietly, voice quietly angry. "Let me move!" Their voice is a loud hiss now, and suddenly Hooten was flung against the wall, like he was pushed, hard enough to splinter the rotted wood. They ran a hand along the rotted boards, the empty window frames where little shards of glass lay. "I want... I want to go home. He cannot hold much longer." The ghost whimpered softly, and Alex couldn't help but feel bad for them. It must have been terrifying, to have been suddenly thrust into the living world, a warm, living body. 

"Then go." She said quietly. Alex scooted close to where the possessed Hooten was leaning against the doorframe. She kissed his forehead silently. The ghost let out a long sigh, and Hooten's body crumpled to the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief and cradled him in her lap, pulling him so his head rested against her shoulder. He was breathing, but his skin was ice cold, entire body trembling. "Hooten, please wake up, you have to wake up!" The sadness was gone and all that was left was fear. She pressed a hand to his forehead. Unsurprisingly, he didn't seem to have a fever; that was as cold as the rest of him.

Slowly he stirred, and she prayed that his eyes would be normal when they opened. Sure enough, they were the normal soft shade of brown instead of fathomless black. "Thank god," She breathed.

"AL-Alex." Hooten's voice shook, hoarse and rough like he'd swallowed glass. Wincing, he tried to sit up. "F-fuck, it's freezing, we- we've gotta get out of here." He began to cough. She shushed him gently, and he leaned heavily against her. She hurriedly grabbed the first aid kits and the rest of their gear, and half-carried her shaking partner outside, helping him sit down on the grass as she sat next to him. She examined his hands. They were cut deeply, dripping with blood. She could see where there were shards of glass and splinters sticking up, and hastily opened the first-aid kit. 

"This is going to hurt," Alex said quietly as she grabbed the tweezers. Carefully, quickly, she individually removed the painful debris, tweezing out shards of glass first. The bigger pieces were easier to get, but left deep, red cuts in his palms. He was shaking pretty badly, but he was very clearly out of it. His heavy breathing drew out into a pathetic yelp as she had to go a little deeper to remove a shard of glass.

One splinter took a painstaking amount of time to remove completely, and Hooten gasped, a string of curses slipping out of his mouth involuntarily. Once Alex was completely sure she had removed all of this, or as much as she could, she gently grasped his arm in comfort and sprayed hydrogen peroxide all over his hands and into a few cuts on his face. He nearly screamed, instead settling for an agonized, helpless cry that wasn't quite so loud. Real tears were dripping down his face, and Alex felt horrible about it because she hadn't the slightest idea how to comfort him. "Hooten, come on. Breathe. Slowly, slowly, it's okay. Just breathe."

She went into autopilot, hurriedly bandaging his hands up and putting a butterfly bandage on one cut on his forehead. He was clearly trying to stop crying, but was having a hard time doing so. Alex was scared, because he was still shaking, and she didn't know what that meant. Some part of her rationalized he was likely going into shock. Fumbling through the kit, she unfolded the blanket and draped it around his shoulders. He pulled it closer around him. She gently ran her fingers through his dark hair in an attempt to comfort him.

Slowly, she helped him get to his feet. He was stumbling very frequently, but able to walk, which was a good sign. Her hand stayed steady on his shoulder as they carefully made their way down the hill. 

"What- what the fuck happened? I don't remember the last... How long was it?" He rasped, wrapping an arm around her waist for stability and wincing visibly because of his injured palms. 

"You got possessed by a ghost of a woman who was getting married here. She didn't tell me what her name was, but I remember seeing her story when I was researching the place. Her name was Anya Baines," Alex explained. "She didn't want to hurt you, but.. She was scared. You were possessed for... Twenty minutes, at most. More like fifteen." 

"Damn." Hooten said softly, and coughed into his elbow worryingly hard. His eyes were still red, and she made a note to hug him later, or at least when they got back to the hotel.

"We're almost there." She reassured, the truck in her sight as they rounded the bend in the wooded path. The roar of the sea was loud in her ears and Hooten was leaning on her more and more. The blanket seemed to have helped him a little, but he was still shivering. 

Their footsteps rustling through the grass, they finally came off of the hill and onto the flat ground. Alex hurriedly packed up their equipment, vowing to burn that Ouija board sometime, and helped Hooten into the passenger seat. She sat in the driver's seat with the doors closed, just letting herself relax a little. She took a breath, and then another. Sighed. "You know, that was really, really stupid, right? You could have died." She couldn't even make that sound like a joke. "I'm very glad you're alright, Hooten. That was horrifying." 

He looked at her for a moment.

"I'm sorry." His voice was soft, and he was clearly only half awake, still shivering, but the words still filled her with a soft kind of surprise. He pulled the blanket closer, leaning onto the window and letting his breath fog the glass. Alex started the engine, a steady roar, and pulled onto the bridge. She reached over and patted his shoulder in a quick semblance of affection, more than ready to get away from this place.

"It wasn't your fault."


End file.
